Top things to do in Tampa Bay for Dec. 25

A gurgling pond reflects LED lights in the Florida Botanical Gardens. The Florida Botanical Gardens' Holiday Lights in the Gardens is open. Featuring more than one million lights Holiday Lights in the Gardens runs from Friday, Nov. 25 through Saturday, Dec. 31, every evening from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. A donation of $4 per person, ages 13 and over, is suggested. Now with more than one million environmentally-friendly LED and laser lights, the gardens are transformed into a stunning holiday wonderland filled with favorite seasonal and Florida-style displays around every bend of Pinellas County's 35-acre botanical treasure. There will also be a variety of volunteer entertainers, including ballet dance troupes, local choral groups, and musicians performing jazz, bluegrass and folk. Visits with Santa Claus will be held every night through Dec. 23. Food and hot chocolate is available for sale each night. Since 2000, the Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation and the Pinellas County Parks Department have done the Holiday Lights event. Money raised goes to maintenance and improvements to the gardens, as well as maintaining and bringing new, displays for next year's Holiday Lights event.

Annual New Granada Xmas Night Extravaganza: If you're seeking refuge from the holiday hubbub, head to New World for its annual Christmas Night blowout that's turned into a yearly reunion for the local indie music community. 8 p.m., New World Brewery, 1313 E Eighth Ave., Tampa. $10. (813) 248-4969.

An American in Paris: The Tony Award-winning musical about an American soldier, a mysterious French girl and a European city in the aftermath of war. Through Dec. 25. 7:30 p.m., Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. $39-$90. (813) 229-7827.

TO WATCH

Beauty and the Beast, 8 p.m., ABC: Bookworm Belle falls for a prince who's been transformed into a beast thanks to a curse.